Hell is No Paradise
by Eoin
Summary: Uhocuz, a demon, and Eletoha, an angel, come to Earth, where they struggle with Truth and its implications.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This first chapter was written in 2004. The next two were written in October 2006. There may be some discrepancies, especially in style. Also, this is, I suppose, based off Milton. He wasn't an option in the menu. Have a nice read!

Hell is No Paradise

He must get out of this refuse pit. Its burning allure was lost on him now. The tyranny was driving him mad. It had not bothered him before, but after he had heard The History, he had begun to think.

He had thought about the comparatively free people of the Earth, and about what educated people knew (he was one of them now, he surmised), versus the lies and exaggerations others were told to keep them afraid and obedient. He wondered what the Earth was like to live in, and what had really happened so many ages ago. Was The History a web of lies as well? He thought about the Overworld, and wondered whether the Angels were really so hideous and evil. All of this led to his decision to leave.

He looked down at the many slaves straining in the pits from his hiding place behind a rock. They were covered with lesions, scars, disfigurements. Their chains had worn almost through their burnt skin. Whips lashed down on them, and he listened to their screams with relish.

He looked toward the Palace. His people were barely any better off. True, they were not whipped, but they were scarred, mind and body. They were often plagued by the same epidemics that scourged the slaves. This was from tainted food – when one's food is diseased, one will certainly catch it.

He absentmindedly scratched a scab on his left buttock, and immediately wished he hadn't. It opened and pus oozed onto his fingers. He swore, squeezed out the pus, then rubbed his spittle in the wound. A painful and disgusting procedure, but a necessary one. Yes, this Hell-hole – how apt a name – was no longer his home.

His gaze traveled to the Gates of Hell. How would he get through that?

Suddenly he heard the sliding of rock behind him. He whipped around, fearing an avalanche. A person, covered in dust, was lying on the ground, apparently fallen from the sky – or what passed for a sky in the Underworld.

"Where did you come from?" he asked.

The visitor looked up at him in horror, and pointed to the steep incline behind them.

"There's a way out of the Underworld? To Earth?"

The stunned visitor nodded, still in shock at landing in this godforsaken place and being confronted by this _thing_.

"Thanks a whole lot," the demon said, and patted him on the shoulder. The visitor had not gathered his wits enough even to recoil. The demon began climbing the rock wall, then paused.

"Oh, and welcome to Hell."


	2. Chapter 2

It was dangerous, doing this. If he was caught, he could be forced to serve forever. Just like Huh. Huh – his teacher – had told him about other things. He had told him of the Middle World, and the Lower World, and how they came to be. He told him about the Upper World, and the wars that had raged for millennia. Then one day Huh didn't show up at their usual time. The next day, Eletoha heard that Huh had tried to escape – and had been caught, eletoha knew that he had to escape. _And I can't get caught, even my status as prince won't protect me. Huh was a courtier, and it perhaps hurt him more than being a commoner would have. _He walked over to his window and looked out at the patch of blue sky amid the clouds. _I suppose there's nothing for it._ He climbed up on the windowsill… and jumped. He flapped his wings, trying to increase his speed, then stopped moving as he passed trough the lower cloud boundaries. If he were detected here… He closed his eyes. _Almost through…_ He felt cold air on his skin. He opened his eyes. The air rushing past stung them and made them fill with water, but he saw a blurry image of green and brown a mile below. He felt his speed increasing, and forced his eyes open. The ground rushed towards him. Reflexively, he opened his wings, and then screamed in pain as they snapped up. He did his best to lower himself slowly to te ground. Nevertheless, he hit the ground with an audible thud. His last thought before he slipped into unconciousness was _I'm free… I'm safe._


	3. Chapter 3

Uhocuz pulled himself out of the small hole and began blinking hard. It was so bright! His eyes finally adjusted – but still smarted a little – and he began to take in his surroundings. The ground was brown and soft, and there were green things all over it. There were green things everywhere. Green, what a repulsive colour. He stood up and saw what looked like a stream of clear liquid. Clear liquid? He walked over and sniffed it. No odour… that's odd. He shrugged internally. Did he expect this world to be just like home? He began walking towards the largest green things on brown columns, then stopped. He could have sworn he heard something. He looked around. Perhaps it was a trick of the mind. But there it was again…it sounded like someone moaning. He approached its origin, and saw a pair of white wings. He stopped, trying to puzzle this out. It couldn't be an angel…unless he had ended in the Upperworld!

Eletoha opened his eyes…and saw a demon standing over him. They both started back. Eletoha gained his feet. "Stay away, demon," he warned

The demon eyed him. "You watch yourself, angel. I've heard about the treachery of your kind."

"It is your kind who are the evil ones. By some trickery you've brought me into your world."

"I've brought you into my world? You and your breed brought me into the Upperworld!"

they stared at each other for a moment.

"I am Eletoha, a prince of Angels. I thought I was in the Middleworld."

The other seemed interested. "Why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same."

The demon chuckled. "Fair cup. I am Uhocuz, a prince of demons. I am here because I saw the opportunity to leave. What happened to you? You look like you fell out of the sky."

Eletoha looked down and kicked at the ground. "I suppose I did."

"I see. Do you know what this stuff is?" Uhocuz knelt and tore out some green things.

"I think it's called grass. It grows here. Didn't you learn about this world before you came here?"

"Well, it was sort of sudden. What I did know is, I suppose, lies. This place doesn't seem full of barbarians. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen anything here except you."

"I haven't either. Since you don't know what these things are, I'll tell you: those over there are trees, that's water – actually, a stream – but I don't know these. Or those."

"We have these and those at home. These are rocks, and those are mountains. Mountains are big piles of rocks. Do you have this other stuff in the Upperworld?"

"Well, we have water, but there aren't any growing things. It's all cloud." Eletoha paused and eyeballed uhocuz. "Maybe I shouldn't be reavealing government secrets to a demon."

Uhocuz laughed. "Who would I tell them to?"

Eletoha shrugged. "I suppose you're right."

There was a sudden boom from overhead.

"Thunder! Gods protect me!" they both shouted, and made the same sacred sign in the air.

"We can hide there!" Uhocuz said, pointing to the trees. Eletoha started to run over to them.

"Wait!" Uhocuz shouted. "We have to cover this hole so they can't come up!"

Eletoha kept running. Uhocuz strained to lift a boulder.

"Come on!" Eletoha yelled, but uhocuz still tried to move the boulder. Rain started to pour down on them. Eletoha ran back to uhocuz and helped him carry it over to the hole. They began to run to the trees, but eletoha dragged behind.

"My wings… they're all wet. I can't go on." He collapsed.

Uhocuz looked back. "Come on," he said, and helped Eletoha up. They staggered to the copse, Uhocuz half-carrying Eletoha. Upon reaching it, they both sat down heavily, and tried to catch their breaths.

"Sorry," Eletoha gasped, "When my wings get wet, they get really hard to move with. It's only happened once before."

"Well, it looks like you'll be wet for a while. But we have to move. The bouler won't stop them for long." He looked over at Eletoha. "The thunder is their hunting call. It's happened before. It wasn't pretty what they did to her when they brought her back. If they find us, we won't want to be captured alive."

Eletoha shook his head. "My people will find us if we're under the open sky, so we have to stay hidden. The thunder means they're looking for me. Each flash of lighting helps them. It used to happen a lot, but recently it hasn't… until my teacher… and now me."

Uhocuz stared at him. "Well, whoever's looking for us, we don't want to be found."

"Agreed. I think we'll be safe if we stay here."

"I don't. We have to keep moving. If it's my people, we're safer under the open sky."

"Not if it's my people. and remember, I cant travel wet."

"I've never been wet before. I suppose we should stay here."

"Right. Let's get some rest."


End file.
